Katherine Rossy earned her PhD in History from Queen Mary University of London (United Kingdom) in 2018, where she held a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Doctoral Scholarship. She then completed a SSHRC-funded Postdoctoral Fellowship at Carleton University in Ottawa before joining RMC’s History Department in 2022. Dr. Rossy’s expertise lies in the Second World War and early Cold War eras, particularly with regard to the history of humanitarianism, human rights, and the laws of armed conflict. She is currently working on a major monograph on the evolution of United Nations emergency humanitarian aid in all theatres of conflict during the Second World War and its immediate aftermath. Dr. Rossy welcomes candidates for graduate supervision whose projects explore aspects of war and peace, humanitarianism and human rights.
Education
- PhD History (Queen Mary University of London)
- MA History (Concordia University)
- BA History, English Literature (McGill University)
Research Interests
- The Second World War and the Early Cold War
- The history of humanitarian aid
- Human rights and the laws of armed conflict
Courses Taught
- HIE 271: Introduction to Military History and Thought
- HIE 284: A History of Europe since the 15th Century
- HIE 343: Occupied Europe, 1938-1945
- HIF 343: L’Europe occupée, 1938-1945
- HIE 452: War, Peace and Civil Society in Modern Europe
Publications
- Rossy, Katherine and Samantha K. Knapton, Rehabilitation Among the Ruins: The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. London: Bloomsbury, 2023.
- Rossy, Katherine. “The Forgotten ‘R’: UNRRA’s Central Tracing Bureau and the Recovery of Missing Persons in Post-war Germany, 1945-47.” In Rehabilitation Among the Ruins: The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. Edited by Katherine Rossy and Samantha K. Knapton. London: Bloomsbury, 2023. 25 pages.
- Rossy, Katherine and Samantha K. Knapton. “Introduction: Among the Ruins” In Rehabilitation Among the Ruins: The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. Edited by Katherine Rossy and Samantha K. Knapton. London: Bloomsbury, 2023. 18 pages.
- Rossy, Katherine. "The (Bio)Politics of Relief: United Nations’ Food Policy Toward Displaced Children in Post-WWII Europe.” In Child Migration and Biopolitics. Edited by Beatrice Scutaru and Simone Paoli. London: Routledge, 2020. 19 pages.
- Rossy, Katherine. "Forgotten Targets: The Case of Kidnapped and Germanised Children in Post-War Europe.” In Forgotten Fronts: The Unknown Conflicts of the Second World War. Edited by Christopher Murray. London: Routledge, 2019. Pages 209-229.
- Rossy, Katherine. “Faceless and Stateless: French Occupation Policy toward Women and Children in Postwar Germany (1945-1949).” In Gender, Sexuality, and the Cold War: A Global Perspective, edited by Philip E. Muehlenbeck, Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2017. Pages 15-34.
- Rossy, Katherine. “Hiding in Plain Sight: Stolen Children, Reputation & Humanitarian Intervention in Postwar Germany (1945-1949).” Helden. Heroisierenden. Heroismen. E-Journal zu Kulturen des Heroischen. 3.2 (2016): 75-79.
- Rossy, Katherine. The Unaccompanied Child: A New Category of ‘Refugee’ in Postwar Germany (1945-1949).” Studi Emigrazione: International Journal of Migration Studies. 199 (2015): 439-450.
- Rossy, Katherine. "Ideology in the Warfare State: An Analysis of Attitudes towards Women and Childbirth in Nazi Family Policy, 1933-1939." Policy in Action Journal: Diversity, Politics and Policy Dynamics in the Contemporary Period. 1.1 (2012): 67-97.